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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27230518">a soft place to land</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space'>lostin_space</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Showers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:28:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,246</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27230518</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos is having a bad day, so TK babies him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carlos Reyes/TK Strand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>167</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>9-1-1 Lone Star ▶ Carlos Reyes / Tyler Kennedy "TK" Strand</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a soft place to land</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re covered in dirt.”</p><p>“I'm sorry.”</p><p>“No, I'm kidding,” TK said fondly, wiping off a bit of the grime on Carlos’ cheek, “It's just usually me who gets covered in dirt."</p><p>There were moments when things were phenomenal and there were moments when they weren’t. Carlos was slowly learning how to flow with TK through those phases just as TK was learning to flow with him through his. Their jobs were mentally taxing and that didn’t even take into consideration their lives outside of work. The only way to get through it all was to do what they could.</p><p>And this week wasn’t Carlos' best.</p><p>“Let’s go take a shower, clean you up,” TK suggested, running a hand through his hair. It was sweaty and gross, but he was clearly tired and TK was willing to lend a hand.</p><p>“Yeah, okay,” Carlos agreed. TK slid his hand from his face and down his arm, grasping his hand gently to tug him to the bathroom.</p><p>TK kept stealing glances at him as he turned on the shower and let it heat up. Carlos dropped onto the toilet with a thud, his head bowed as he took deep breaths. He’d never actually seen him like this. He didn’t know if he should be scared or if he should feel special that he felt comfortable enough to be so vulnerable in front of him. He chose the second one.</p><p>He crouched down in front of him to take off his shoes and socks, feeling a little bit giddy about doing this for someone else. Once those were off, he stood and let Carlos rest his head against his stomach, running his fingers through his hair. Carlos took slow, deep breaths and held onto his hips to keep him close.</p><p>“Do you need anything else?” TK asked, “Like, wine or something?”</p><p>Carlos shook his head, “I just need to take a shower and go to sleep.”</p><p>“Okay,” TK said, but that didn’t seem like enough. He thought back to his own bad days and how that was never enough. He needed to do <em>something </em>to distract himself from whatever was going on in his head. “Hey, I’m off tomorrow. Maybe you can call in sick tomorrow and I’ll just take care of you all day.”</p><p>“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”</p><p>“C’mon, when’s the last time you took a day off just because?” TK wondered, “You deserve it.”</p><p>Carlos lifted his head and looked up at him, eyebrows knitted together a little. It was the first time someone who actually knew him seemed to be seeking guidance from him. It gave him really inappropriately timed butterflies.</p><p>“Look, you haven’t taken a day off since Michelle moved away. That’s a big thing, no longer having your best friend around in person. And today was a bad day. They’ll understand. Call in and I’ll spend all day pampering you,” TK suggested. He kind of liked the idea of taking care of someone. He liked it even better that it was Carlos.</p><p>“Okay,” he agreed reluctantly. TK smiled and dropped a kiss on the top of his head.</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>TK got to work at unbuttoning his shirt just enough to pull it over his head and then pulled his undershirt to follow it. Then he grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet. Carlos leaned against him heavily, his head tucked into the crook of his neck as TK unbuckled his belt and let his pants fall to the floor.</p><p>Maybe it was a little weird that TK wouldn’t mind doing this more. He’d always wanted someone to love and give all his attention to, but the way his life had taken him hadn’t really allowed him to do that. That was stuck to hidden little fantasies that he never really thought possible with the life he led. Being a firefighter didn’t exactly lend itself to being a house-husband. But maybe he could do things like this every once in awhile. Hell, maybe he could make him breakfast in bed.</p><p>TK stripped as fast as he could so he didn’t have to be separated from Carlos that long and it earned him the fondest little smile which made everything worth it. He grabbed his hand and tugged him into the shower with him. The minute the water got to him, the dirt on his skin started to visibly slide off.</p><p>“Do you wanna talk about what happened?” TK asked. He didn’t really understand what could’ve happened that could’ve gotten him like that. He hadn’t even heard of anything really bad happening.</p><p>“I got called to an abandoned building and got half the dirt there after walking into the basement and the rest of it from breaking up a fight in baseball field,” he said, sighing as he shook his head, “Not even a big deal, it was just a long day of people being ridiculous.”</p><p>“I understand,” TK said. And he did. He didn’t ask for more.</p><p>TK took his time as he washed Carlos’ hair as thoroughly as he could, massaging his scalp and getting every inch. He rinsed that out and followed it with his fancy conditioner that would make his dad proud. Then he grabbed a wash cloth, wiping down every inch of his skin and covering him in soap so he’d feel clean. When he rinsed him off, he left kisses for extra measure. Carlos sighed a content little sigh which made it all worth it.</p><p>He quickly bathed himself as thoroughly as he could without all the special attention before getting back to Carlos, rinsing the conditioner out of his hair. Carlos tilted his head back to lay against his shoulder and TK reached around to press a kiss to the hollow of his throat.</p><p>“You’re too good to me,” Carlos whispered. TK hummed and shook his head.</p><p>“You deserve it.”</p><p>They stayed under the hot water for a few more minutes, letting it eat at the tension in their bodies from the day. Eventually, though, they had to get out and TK shut off the water. </p><p>He wrapped Carlos up in a towel and pressed a kiss to his nose, smiling when Carlos huffed a laugh. He dried them both slowly, kissing him wherever seemed like it needed to be kissed. Truly, he looked like he needed to be kissed until he couldn’t think about anything else.</p><p>After they were for the most part dry, they brushed their teeth and headed into his bedroom. Carlos, despite his tired eyes, already looked better than he did when he walked inside. TK grabbed something for them to sleep in while Carlos took the time to call work and say he couldn’t come in tomorrow.</p><p>By the time they made it into bed, TK had turned out the lights and they were dressed in the bare minimum. He laid on his back and pulled Carlos onto him, cradling his head that stayed firmly in the crook of his neck.</p><p>“Do you think you’ll be able to sleep in tomorrow?” he asked quietly. Carlos hummed something that was probably a <em>no, but I’ll stay in bed as long as you want </em>which was a fair deal. “Okay, get some sleep.”</p><p>Carlos nuzzled a little closer and relaxed with a slow exhale. It was the cutest thing. TK wondered for a moment if this is what it really felt like to be stupidly in love.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>“No problem.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>also on my tumblr: spaceskam</p></blockquote></div></div>
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